Kelly L. Cole

Welcome to the College of Public and Allied Health at East Tennessee State University.

I attended ETSU as an undergraduate student and was very confused about the direction I wanted to take with my career. I dabbled in a variety of majors including nursing, education, radiology, and physical therapy. As a junior, I was very confused about what to do and I felt I had to make up my mind. Realizing that all of these majors centered on health, I thought about Public Health. I spoke to an advisor in the Department of Public Health and he talked to me about all of the options there were with a master's degree. After many meetings, we decided that I would pursue a minor in Public Health to explore the different concentrations that Public Health had to offer. After one year, I finished my undergraduate degree and was on my way to pursuing a Master of Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology.

I chose epidemiology because I found myself extremely interested in both the Introduction to Epidemiology and Biostatistics courses as an undergraduate student. I felt there was an exciting world out there for research and hands on experience in the world of epidemiology. I also chose this concentration because the program has developed an aggressive approach to research for students. This has given us the opportunity to use the research methods we learn in the classroom and apply it to different public health issues.

I have had many opportunities in this program especially in research. I have attended numerous conferences including the American Public Health Association (APHA), Public Health Information Network (PHIN), and the International Union against Cancer (UICC), within the last year and a half. At these conferences I have done poster presentations about various areas of research including substance abuse among adolescents, disease registration, and disparities for cancer screening in southern Appalachia .

More recently, I had the opportunity to be the project manager for a case-control study at one of the local hospitals. The study looked at the barriers to care for stroke patients in the area and also the quality of care the patients receive after entering the hospital. I also organized the abstractions of 500 medical charts along with 200 patient interviews for this project.

In conclusion, this program provided valuable experiences that I will take into the professional world. I not only had a great experience in the classroom, but also had the chance to apply what I learned through real world applications. I am confident that the skills I have learned at ETSU will make me a competitive candidate in the job market. I hope you will consider ETSU for your professional degree and that your experience will be as great as mine.

Thank you,

Kelly L. Cole
Graduate President, Public Health Student Association